Download The High-Mountain Cryosphere. Environmental Changes and

Geologos 23, 1 (2017): 59–61
doi: 10.1515/logos-2017-0007
The High-Mountain Cryosphere. Environmental Changes and Human Risks, edited
by C. Huggel, M. Carey, J.J. Clague and A. Kääb, 2015. Cambridge University Press (University Printing House), Cambridge, United Kingdom. 363 pages. Hardback: price USD
139.00, ISBN 978-1-107-06584-0.
When talking about high mountains within the
context of past environments, present-day processes or future developments, we think implicitly of
their reactions with the cryosphere. Low temperature impact is reflected in the nature of mountain
areas at every latitude. At elevations above the common climatic influence related to sea level, changes
are triggered by altitude, when entering the zone
of below zero (Celsius) temperatures. The present
book has a very meaningful subtitle, “Environmental Changes and Human Risk” – it introduces
readers to the multiple interactions between an ever
increasing population and a higher susceptibility to
damage of the contemporary natural realm. Obvious to us is the fact that climate change (and its consequences, also in the cryosphere) have an impact
on the rapidly growing populations, but we are less
informed about the reverse situation. However, already in the late 1970s the Polish scientist Marian
Pulina observed how inconsiderate water man-
agement could destroy glacier systems and lead to
changes in their behaviour (Pulina 1982, 1984). It is
easy to add such examples from industry, agriculture or tourism. Both sides of the problem are equally interesting and beg for more detailed studies. In
the present book, the editorial team guaranteed
a good selection of subject matters and high-quality
results, consisting as it does of outstanding specialists of natural and social sciences. Christian Huggel
is an expert of cryospheric hazards and mitigation
who has authored numerous high-ranking papers
and book chapters, edited several scientific works
based on experiences from many glacier-covered
areas of high mountains across the globe. He is an
expert in IPCC and advisor at governmental levels,
e.g., in Switzerland where he is employed at the
University of Zürich. The social and cultural approach is represented competently by Marc Carey
from the University of Oregon, who specialises in
the environmental history of South America and
other regions, having obtained numerous data on
implications of climate changes and natural hazards, in particular glacier disasters on indigenous
civilisations. He was also one of authors of the
2014 IPCC assessment report. Publications by John
Clague from the Simon Frasier University, British
Columbia, Canada, concentrate on Quaternary and
environmental earth sciences across a wide range
of topics, such as geological mapping, stratigraphy,
natural hazards, climate changes and much more.
He is both a reputed scientist and an expert of applied geology, both at home and across the globe.
Andreas Kääb is Professor for Remote Sensing at
the Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo.
His works are devoted mainly to remote sensing
of the cryosphere in various mountainous areas
in the world (e.g., Global Land Ice Measurements
from Space), with a particular interest in the Alps.
Amongst other things, Andreas specialises in hazard and disaster assessment studies, i.e., analytical
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Book reviews
and digital photogrammetry and DEM for terrain
displacement measurements. He is very much engaged in the development of cryospheric sciences,
having served for many years on executive boards
of such organisations as the International Association of Cryospheric Sciences and the International
Permafrost Association.
Amongst the 48 names of the authors of the 18
chapters of the book we find internationally renowned specialists from Austria, Canada, Chile,
Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Switzerland, USA and UK, working under auspices
of Glacier and Permafrost Hazards in Mountains
(GAPHAZ) Standing Group of the International
Association of Cryospheric Sciences (IASC) and
the International Permafrost Association (IPA). As
the editors’ note in the introduction, entitled “Human-environment dynamics in the high-mountain
cryosphere”, the rapid process of climate change
that impacts the high-mountain cryosphere, we
can generally observe, with the unaided eye, to be
expressed by large-scale disappearance of glaciers,
thereby exposing unstable, bareground landscapes,
very highly prone to intensive processes of mass
movements and hydrological interactions. The
rapidly growing world population impacts remote
mountainous environments and leads to hazards
as a result of commoner human interaction and resource acquisition.
The book aims to answer three basic questions,
i.e., to find drivers of environmental, social and economic changes in the relationship between human
activity and high-mountain cryosphere; the link
between the influence of those drivers on natural
and human systems; and the types of risk that result
from these interactions. Thus, three essential parts
of the book relate to these problems.
The first one, entitled “Global drivers”, consists
of five chapters, through which we can become acquainted first with the role of climate variability
and large-scale circulation in changes of the mountain cryosphere, second with selected aspects of
spatial and temporal characteristics of air temperature, precipitation and their extremes in mountainous environments; third, with snow and avalanches and long- and short-term tendencies that
influence socio-economic development and, fourth,
with problems on the edge of glacier recession and
economic exploitation of newly created terranes
in frozen areas and their future. Finally, in the last
chapter cultural values of glaciers are studied, not
only in a market-based background, but also as sociological phenomena in a changing environment.
The second part of the book, entitled “Processes”, is the most extensive. In seven chapters
the most serious hazards that we can expect from
high-mountain cryospheric environments under
climate change and multi-directional human pressure are outlined. In the first chapter we learn how
seismic and volcanic activities are connected with
climate changes and which implications they have
on the cryosphere, as glacier-induced earthquakes
and intensification of eruptions followed by mass
movements on volcanic slopes. Catastrophic mass
wasting (the subject of the next chapter) is especially dangerous for large numbers of inhabitants of
piedmont areas. They can be triggered in various
ways, inclusive of effects of cryosphere degradation. Many examples of such effects are illustrated
from various areas. Slope instability is often caused
by glacier and permafrost decay, with detailed description from the Alps and quoting possibilities
of forecasting their impacts. High erosional rates
in the mountains, where sediments just released
from glaciers or by deeper thawing of permafrost,
increase the hazard of downwash. Assessment of
these processes is carefully done. Glaciers are often
seen as inexhaustible water resources. From the text
it becomes clear that they vary regionally and moreover that discharge and total storage are decreasing, failing to meet the growing demand, especially
in densely populated areas with limited access to
water from other sources. In addition, there is also
the threat of unexpected flooding, as a consequence
of climate instability – such are increasingly more
frequent nowadays. This interesting chapter shows
the hazard of glacier floods not only to human life
but also to the very sensitive cultural and economic
infrastructure. In this part we cannot omit the relationships between inorganic and organic systems
in the mountains. Processes may vary from place
to place, both with the expansion of plants or their
disappearance, linked to geomorphological and hydrological effects.
In nature, due to issues outlined, there are environmental consequences and responses, as described in the third part of the book. In the following
chapters we meet people that inhabit the Himalayas
and learn about the risk they are exposed to from
more frequent extreme natural processes. In addition, what happens in the interaction of numerous
volcanoes covered by ice (worldwide) and in areas
where permafrost is in retreat, leading to a higher
frequency of high-elevation debris-flows (e.g., in
the Alps, but also elsewhere)? Finally, there is also
a reference to increasing water conflicts, not only in
glacier-covered environments but also elsewhere.
Finally, co-authored by the editors, there is
a concluding chapter that underlines the highly
complex nature of the problems touched by this
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Book reviews
book. As shown, investigations are difficult both
in terms of remoteness and harshness of territories,
but also within the context of sensitivity being related to large part of the population that is dependent
on the future development of high-mountain environments, not only in natural, but also man-made
modes.
There are many scientists, engineers, volunteers, stakeholders and politicians who try to get to
grips with problems of environmental change, impacting that part of civilization that is endangered
by high-energy areas of high mountains and their
forefields, not only from a territorial, but also from
a mental point of view. What is needed most is an
understanding of how these processes work and
what can be expected in the future. On that basis we
can start to design tools and intelligent mitigation
systems. The best start is from knowledge gathered
and shared by specialists, like the one summarised
here.
References
Pulina, M., 1982. Karst-related phenomena at the Bertil
Glacier, West Spitsbergen. Kras i Speleologia 4, 67–82.
Pulina, M., 1984. The effects of cryochemical processes in
the glaciers and permafrost in Spitsbergen. Polish Polar Research 5, 137–163.
Grzegorz Rachlewicz
Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
[email protected]